Traditional spectacle frames consist of a front mount that contains, supports and positions corrective or protective lenses, and of a pair of side temples, having one free end and one end hinged to corresponding ends of the front mount, said hinge ensuring the opening and closing of the spectacle frame, for improved arrangement and positioning of the same during use, whereas, when the temples are closed on the front mount in the rest position thereof, ensure a small size of the same.
When the spectacle is to be used occasionally, such as a farsighted person's spectacle, the size thereof becomes a serious problem, in that the same spectacle, even when it is not used, requires to be stored and still be at hand for any next occasion of use.
A traditional shape for a spectacle case is the one that provides for the latter to be placed within cases, either rigid or flexible, that can be kept for example within a pocket of the jacket or on the desk, said cases being however a further encumbrance, i.e. they are not a solution to this problem but just a protection against accidental impacts or falls.
A more recent shape for a spectacle case has been provided by using strings or chains having the ends thereof fastened to the spectacle temples and the middle part thereof slung around the neck by the wearer, such as to have the spectacle hanging on the chest and at hand for any use thereof. This solution, however, has not solved the problem of the spectacle bulk, which hinders the wearer's movements that the wearer has to perform during the day.
These drawbacks have been addressed by providing collapsible spectacle, which can be stored for example within a smaller box or case, being however capable of being easily found for occasional use. An example is suggested in FR 2.538.921 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,616. These and other similar solutions achieve the advantage of reducing the spectacle size, during the rest step, however the overlaying and folding in several layers of the front mount elements and temple elements, results in a considerable thickness of the collapsed spectacle, which brings about problems in terms of storage, for example within a pocket of the suit, in addition to causing a rapid wear of the spectacle and a continuous chance of torsions and deformations caused by accidental impacts or poor ability in unfolding the spectacles, thereby making them rapidly deformed and hence unusable.
The utility model ES 1.054.274 suggests a different constructive solution that overcomes these wear and malformation drawbacks, by providing a pair of lenses with two rings that are provided with outer ends which are securely joined to a semi-rigid cable to be applied to the wearer's neck, whereas the inner ends can be attached to each other, by means of magnetic elements. However, this solution does not solve the problems of the bulk of the two front mount parts and of its uncomfortable semi-rigid cable slung around the neck, which however hinders the wearer's movement and does not allow him/her to, for example, fasten the car seat belt, and it is also very annoying in case of people with long hair.
A more recent constructive solution has been suggested in patent application BL2006A000003 and provides for the implementation of a spectacle frame made of dismountable elements, which are joined and aligned to each other by means of temple-positioning cables acting as a counterbalance, by entraining a pair of lens-holding rings and forcing it to fit within an intermediate element that acts like a bridge. On the one hand, if this solution undoubtedly reduces the size of the spectacle when it is not used, on the other hand it has created disturbance problems that are caused by the presence of counterbalances, in addition to be easily entangled and not very practical for an unskilled person and still does no solve the annoyance it causes to a person with long hair.